Opinion | Mengtian fulfills China's dream of space: It also carries a message

By Augustus K. Yeung

INTRODUCTION

As early as the Tang Dynasty (618-906 AD), Li Bi, one of China's most famous and popular poets wrote a poem, chronicling his "desire of going to the blue-sky for adventure"; the outer space was mythically believed to have housed a state-of-the-art architecture that rivals the Tang palaces on Earth.

Tang, a Chinese dynasty that established an empire extending over much of central Asia and Korea. In Tang times foreign trade was encouraged and many Chinese scientific ideas, such as gunpowder, which was invented under the Tang for fireworks, spread to the West.

Arts, especially poetry, flourished, Neo-Confucianism was revived, printing was invented (the world's first known book, the Buddhist Diamond sutra, was printed in 868), and paper money was used for the first time.

However, in 751 Arab forces recaptured Turkestan and the Tang empire began to disintegrate.

Disastrous revolts and invasions decimated the population and two great rebellions finally led to the collapse of the dynasty and the division of China into many kingdoms.

Throughout Chinese history, Tang's influence diminished as empires waxed and waned.

The Industrial Revolution Further Marginalized China's Fortunes

After the Industrial Revolution (1750-mid-19th Century), China's ancient culture and civilization further deteriorated, and amid Western technological development, which had left China looking haggard, poor and backward.

Not even China's century of humiliation and great human sufferings at the hands of the Eight-Nation Alliance, Western domination and Japanese aggression, atrocity and occupation have the perils been taken into kind consideration, coining China into a stereotype Western mindset that symbolized ethnic inferiority, or "sick man of East Asia".

China's revolution and its rise under the CPC should be correctly perceived as a nation's great attempt to rejuvenation, not domination of the world.

It is so difficult having to explain to the world that what China is doing is just an honest act of self-strengthening movement – without ambitions of territorial aggression, subjugation and domination.

So far, it has been quite a frustrating experience. Hope that is launch of China's space craft will make it known to the world that modern China has the whole humanity in mind, not just pure self-interest.

China appreciates the United States and the Soviet Union which are pioneers in Moon mounting missions.

As a late comer, China would like to make it clear that it's launch of Mengtian, the third and final module, is not just fulfilling the poet's dream of "making it to the moon for adventure". It is bringing national pride to its people—young and old—after its "century of humiliation."

China is now also sending a message to the U.S. that it is intellectually, scientifically and technologically ready, able and willing to work alongside the United States in shaping and building "human common-destiny".

The following is a detailed script of China's last launch of its spacecraft, for a mission of world peace and prosperity.

Mengtian Makes It to the Moon, But What are its Functions?

A Long March-5B Y4 carrier rocket blasted off from a launchpad at the Wenchang spaceport in South China's Hainan province on Monday, carrying a second lab module for China's space station. When in space, the Mengtian lab module will complete the space station's basic T-shaped structure, which means that the space station will be able to perform all its designated functions.

Mengtian is the second lab module for the space station. The first being the Wengian module which is already docked with the Tianhe (Galaxy) core module.

While Wengtian is to be used for biological and space life science projects, such as observing the growth of multiple kinds of plants, animals and microbes in space, Mengtian will be used for in-orbit experiments dedicated to physics and material sciences and will focus on micro-gravity experiments.

As well as being a lab module, Mengtian will also act as a backup for the core module when it is undergoing maintenance. And with Mengtian in place, the space station will host more astronauts. There are already three astronauts on board the space station. When Shenzhou XV arrives with a change of crew, scheduled for early December, there will be six Chinese astronauts living on the space station for a time until the return of the Shenzhou XIV mission crew members.

China's space station will be the only one in space in 2024, if an agreement can't be reached on extending the life of the International Space Station, which was due to be decommissioned in 2031, but that might not be feasible since it requires US cooperation and that of the European Union with Russia. (Source: China Daily)

CONCLUSION

That the ISS is still operational at this point is a living testament to its design and engineering. Like the ISS, China's space station will have to withstand tremendous stresses and strains. While the power, environmental control and life support, and communications systems are all repairable or replaceable in orbit, the operational lifetime of the spacecraft is limited by the integrity of the primary structure. It has to bear the strain of repeated vehicle docking-and-undocking, and the stress effects of daily temperature swings of about 278 degrees Celsius in either direction.

Mengtian means "dreaming of heaven" in Chinese. And China's space station will not only carry the nation's dream of exploring space, but also that of humankind as a whole when the ISS meets its fiery fate.

China views learning more about the vast cosmos as a common dream of humankind, and researchers from other countries already have access to China's orbiting laboratory. China has selected nine initial international experiments for the space station through a collaborative project with the United Nations, and more are to follow.

It is also anticipated that the space station will host astronauts of various nationalities, during its lifetime as China is encouraging international space exchanges and cooperation to help protect the Earth, improve people's well-being and serve human progress.

This is China's message!

The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.

 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

Read more articles by Augustus K. Yeung:

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